In Islamic
eschatology, AL MAHDI is
a messianic deliverer who will bring justice to the earth,
restore true religion, and usher in a short golden age before
the end of the world. Imam Mahdi (a) is not mentioned in the
Quran directly by his name but there are certain verses which
lead to this very concept of a messianic. The great theologians
of both the major sects of Islam have been giving importance to
this doctrine. He has been characterized as a descendant of the
prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family), whose
appearance as the redeemer or messiah presaged the end of the
world and all the then prevailing political and religious
corruption on earth. Imam Mahdi(a) is the
prophesied redeemer ofIslam who will stay on
earth before the coming of the doomsday, (literally "Day of the
Resurrection" or "Day of the Standing") and will rid the world
of error, injustice and tyranny. Among Muslims
"the Mahdi” symbol has developed into a powerful and central
religious idea.

Muslims believe Imam
Mahdi (A.S) is the Twelfth & the last Caliph or Imam.Shias believe that he was born in 868 AD ( 255 AH) and
was hidden by God at the age of five. He is still alive but in
cognitive and is living within people a normal life.According to traditions report that Imam Mahdi (A.S) will
announce himself in Mecca between the corner of theKa’aba and the station of Abraham and will call on the
people to pay allegiance. since been in occultation,awaiting the
time that God has decreed for his return, He shall return with
"a company of his chosen ones." Also part of the return (or
Raj'a) will be his enemies led by the one-eyed Dajjaal
and the Sufyani, the two forces will fight "one
final apocalyptic battle" where Imam Mahdi (A.S) and his forces
will prevail over these forces of evil.

The Following quotations are few among many quoted by certain
companions of the holy prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his
family) to have been made by him and are considered to be
authentic.

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Mas'ood (R.A.) quoted from the prophet
Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his family; "This world will not
come to an end until one person from my progeny does not rule
over the Arabs, and his name will be the same as my name." (Tirmidhi)
Hadhrat Ali (R.A.) quoted from the prophet Muhammed (Peace be
upon him & his family; "Even if only a day remains for Qiyamah
to come, yet Allah will surely send a man from my family who
will fill this world with such justice and fairness, just as it
initially was filled with oppression." (Abu Dawood) Hadhrat
Abu Sa'id al-Khudari(RA) quoted from the prophet
Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his family); Al Mahdi will be from
my progeny. His forehead will be broad and his nose will be
high. He will fill the world with justice and fairness at a time
when the world will be filled with oppression. He will rule
for seven years. (Emphasis Added) Hadhrat Abu Saeed Khudri
(R.A.) quoted from the prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his
family; "Al Mahdi will be from my progeny. His forehead will be
broad and his nose will be high. He will fill the world with
justice and fairness at a time when the world will be filled
with oppression. He will rule for seven years." (Emphasis
Added)
Hadhrat Abu Hurairah quoted from the prophet
Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his family; "The shall not occur
until the Euphrates will disclose a mountain of gold, over which
people will fight. 99 out of every hundred shall die, and every
one of them shall say, 'perchance I shall be the one to succeed"
(Source)

There is apparently no consensus among Muslim scholars as to the
authenticity of the following quote
Hadhrat Abu al-Hujaf(RA) quoted from
the prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his family; saying
three times: Listen to the good news about the Mahdi! He will
rise at the time when people will be faced with severe conflict
and the earth will be hit by a violent quake. He will fill the
earth with justice and equity as it is filled with injustice and
tyranny. He will fill the hearts of his followers with devotion
and will spread justice everywhere. (Bihar al-anwar, Vol.
51, P. 74)

The coming of the
Imam Mahdi(a)is found in
Sunan Abi Dawud, Ibn Majah, and Tirmidhi.

Hazrat Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri
(R.A) said: The Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him 7 his
family) said: "He is one of us…"(— Reported by Abi Na’eem in
Akhbaar al-Mahdi, see al-Jaami’ al-Sagheer, 5/219, hadith 5796.)

The NAQSHABANDEE
HAQQANI SUFIS strongly believe the coming of Imam Mahdi (A.S) in
this 21st Century is imminent. Their Shaikh Hisham
has written a book "The Approach of Armageddon" that touches
much on this subject and beliefs.

Al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn
Ja’far al-Katani said: "The conclusion is that the hadiths
narrated concerning the Imam Mahdi(A.S) are
IN CONTINUATIONas are the
hadith concerning the Dajjal and the descent of Hazrta Isa (A.S)

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Hajar al-Haytami in his fatwa titled The Brief Discourse on
the Portents of the Awaited Mahdi, said that denial of the
Mahdi is disbelief.

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
in his book The Rose Fragrance Concerning the Reports on al-Mahdi,
wrote, "This is the belief of Ahl al-Sunnah, this is the belief
of the Sufis, this is the belief of our Shaykhs, and this is the
belief of the true Shadhili Shaykhs, whose path both al-Suyuti
and al-Haytami followed. Whoever differs with them is a liar and
an innovator.

In the light of
traditions and interpretations, the personality of the Promised
Mahdi would be as such:The promised Imam
Mahdi (A.S) would be a Caliph of God and that to
make a covenant with him is obligatory. He would belong to the “Ahl
ul Bayet”and would be in the line of Imam Hussein (A.S). His name would be Muhammad and his
family name (kuniyat) would be Abul Qasim, he would appear in Mecca. He would protect
the Muslims from destruction and would restore the Islam to its
original position.

Shi'as believe that Imam
Mahdi(a)was
born in 869 AD ( 255 AH). His mother, Her Greatness Narjis
(A.S) (Melika), was a Byzantine princess from the
family of SHAMOON, the vice fo Hazrat MUSA (A.S) taken captive
ina battle between Muslims and Christians
and then brought for sale in Bahdad where she was purchased by
Imam AliALNaqi, the 10th Imam,
the father of Imam Hasan Askari. It is also narrated that she
had seen a dream in which she had been prophesied of meeting the
Imam Hasan Askari and bearing a child to the family of Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family). Imam Mahdi (A.S)
father,

The
11th Imam Hasan Askari (A.S) kept Imam Mahdi (A.S) ‘s
birth a secret due to the persecution that they were facing
during this time at the hands of the then ruling
dynasty in Baghdad. The eleventh Imam died on
1st
January 874 AD (8th Rabbi ul Awwal 260 AH)
and since that day Imam Mahdi (A.S) is the Imam, appointed by
God, to lead the believers of the era. It is reported that as
the funeral prayer of his father the Imam Hasan Askari (A.S) was
about to begin, Imam Mahdi (A.S) uncle, Jafar ibn
Ali approached to lead the prayers but Imam Mahdi
(A.S) approached and commanded, "Move aside, uncle; only an
Imam can lead the funeral prayer of an Imam." Jafar moved
aside and the five-year-old Imam Mahdi (A.S)
led the funeral prayer for his father. It is reported that it
was at this very moment that Imam Mahdi (A.S) disappeared and
went into ghaybat, or occultation.

There is a narration referred to the holy Prophet
of Islam (Peace be
upon him & his family) :
"I and `Ali are the fathers of this nation; whoever knows us
very well also knows Allah, and whoever denies us also denies
Allah, the Unique, the Mighty. And from `Ali's descendants are
my grandsons al­-Hasan and al-­Husayn, who are the masters of
the youths of Paradise, and
from al-­Husayn's descendants shall be nine: whoever obeys them
obeys me, and whoever disobeys them also disobeys me; the ninth
among them is their Qa'im and Mahdi.

A
hadith from the Shi'a text (Kitab Al-Kafi) containing a
conversation between the Imam Ali ibn AbiTalib and his companion
named al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, as well as a Hadith in
Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, whereupon The holy
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him & his family)
speaks of Twelve Successors. Narrated Hazrat Jabir bin Samura
that I heard holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him & his family)
saying, "Islam will continue to be strong to twelve Muslim
rulers (who will rule all the Islamic world)." He then said
a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of them
(those rulers) will be from Quraish.

In
another Hadith widely regarded as authentic, holy Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be
upon him & his family) said
: Even if the entire duration of the world's existence has
already been exhausted and only one day is left before the Day
of Judgment, God will extend that day as to accommodate the
kingdom of a person out of my Ahl ul Baytwho will be called by my name. He will then fill the
Earth with peace and justice as it will have been filled with
injustice and tyranny before then.

Shi'as believe that, for various reasons, God concealed the
twelfth and current
Imam Mahdi (a) from
humankind. The period of occultation (ghaybat)
is divided into two parts:

During
the Minor Occultation (Ghaybat al-Sughra) (874 AD – 941
AD) ( 260 AH to 329 AH), it is believed that
Imam Mahdi (a) maintained
contact with his followers via deputies (an-nuwāb al-arbaʕa).
They represented him and acted as agents between him and his
followers. Whenever a believers faced a problem,he would write
the concerns and send it to the deputy Who would meet the Imam
(a) and pass it on to him.Imam (a) would
give hisverdict endorsed with his seal and
signature to the deputy who would then return it to the
questioner. The deputies were also authorized to collect Zakat
and Khums on Imam (a) behalf. For the followers the idea of
consulting a hidden Imam was not something new because thuis had
been a practice of the previous Imams as well who were meeting
the followers from behind a curtain.

Tradition hold four deputies of Imam Mahdi (a) in
succession to one another:1. Uthman
ibn Saeed (R.A) ( 260 AH to 280 AH)2.Muhammad ibn Uthman (R.A)280 AH to304
AH) 3.Hussein bin Rauh Naubakhtee (R.A) (304
AH to 326 AH)4. Ali bin Muhammad Samree
(R.A) (326 AH to 329 AH.) The fourth ‘NAEB” was informed by Imam
Mahdi (a) 6
days before his death that he shall die on the sixth day and he
shall not appoint any further NAEBbecause
Allah has decided that major occultation has to start which
would end as and when Almighty shall order. The
last letter of Imam Mahdi (a) to Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri
read :"from the day of your death the period of my
major occultation (al ghaybatul kubra) will begin. Hence forth,
no one will see me, unless and until Allah makes me appear .The
Muslims from then on continue to await the reappearance of the
Imam Mahdi (a) The Imam (a) is on earth among the people but
"incognito." "Numerous stories" exist of Imam (a) "manifesting
himself to different people who fell in great problems and then
requested him for relief. Ghaybat al-Kubra or Major
Occultation began 941 AD ( 329 AH ) and is believed to continue
until a time decided by God, when the Imam Mahdi (a) will
reappear to bring absolute justice to the world.

The 12th Imam is known by many titles
like:

Al-Mahdi

Al-Muntazar (the Awaited
one)

Al-Qaim (the Hidden one)

Sahab uz-Zaman (the Master
of the Age)

Imam-e-Zaman (the Leader
of the Age, or alternatively, in Persian, the
Leader of the Earth)

Wali al-'Asr (the Guardian
of the Era or alternatively, the Guardian in the
Twilight [of man])

Imam al-Hujjah (the Leader
of Proof [of Allah's justice])

According to The Narrations Imam Mahdi (a) shallbe from among the family of Prophet Muhammed (Peace be
upon him & his family); be among the descendants of Hazrat Ali
(a) and Hazrat Fatima(a); have same name as Prophet Muhammed
(Peace be upon him & his family); have a broad forehead, be
tall,fair complexioned, have
facial features similar to those of Prophet
Muhammed (Peace be upon him & his family) , have
character exactly like that of Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon
him & his family) , be of the age forty years
at the time of his emergence
and shall have received Knowledge from Allah. He shall appear
before the day of judgmentin Ka’aba where
people will make “bayet” to him. He shall fight in battles to
eradicate tyranny and oppression and spread justice and equity
on earth; Lead a prayer in Ka’aba which Hazrat Isa
(A.S) will follow in and he shall NOT be the same individual as
the Promised Messiah (Jesus).

The
Ahl e Snnat
do believe that the Imam Mahdi (a)will come
from Prophet Muhammad's (s) family, more specifically from
Hazrat ALI (a) and Hazrat Fatima (a) descendants. They differ to
say that he is yet to be born, and therefore his exact identity
is only known to Allah. They do accept many of the same hadiths
Shias accept about the predictions regarding his emergence,
acts, and his universal Khilafat. They also believe that Jesus
will return alongside the Imam Mahdi (a), appear in Mecca, would protect the Muslims from
destruction and would restore the religion to its original
position.

While the people will be pledging their allegiance to Imaam
Mahdi (a) a voice from the unseen will call out: "This is the
representative of Allah, The Mahdi, listen to him and obey him".
This announcement will be heard in every corner of the earth by
all those then living on the earth in the language they would be
speaking and understanding well. Prior to his emergence an
eclipse of the sun and moon will occur in the same month of
Ramadhan. Before his coming will come the red death
and the white death. The red death is the sword and the white
death is plague.Several figures will appear:
the one-eyed Dajjal, the Sufyani and the Yamani.

In the Turkish built compound of the
Prophet’s Mosque in Medina the name of Imam (A.S) is Tran scripted
on the wall as shown here.